Machiavelli is generally seen as the first "truly modern" political thinker. This article asks how and why he was different and explores Machiavelli's use and occasional abuse of Dante in search of an answer. The author notes that Dante speaks to many of the same thinkers and much of the same experience as Machiavelli, yet his thought does not move in the same direction. A comparison of the two Florentines, he argues, yields insights into how and why Machiavelli remade political philosophy as he did.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Larry Peterman (1987) studied this question.